Description

East Comfort Route is located on the East side of Cleo's Needle. Start at the base of a pretty obvious dihedral. Make your way up the dihedral by stemming and using the crack. The dihedral is very relaxed and continuous. The dihedral gives way to face climbing about 15 feet from the top. Climb up the final summit pinnacle using nice face holds. Once at the top either sit on top to belay or go around to the other side of the needle to stand on a nice big ledge. Rap off using the ring at the top. Be sure to notice the wobble of the summit block.

Protection

An assortment of small and medium stoppers or cams. Takes pro very well. Setting up an anchor at the top may be a bit tricky.

I was pleased to find a fixed piton dating, I imagine, from 1964 which is when the rap ring was installed on top. A fun relic of the park's history that wasn't mentioned in the guide books. It still looks solid, so I clipped to it.

The best thing about Cleo's is when you're introducing somebody new to the Lake's climbs. They always whig out at the top when the huge summit block moves while you're sitting on it. I've never failed to see a newbie question my sanity when I tell them we're rapping off of the bolt at the top instead of down climbing. It's even better when you rap first and leave them to their thoughts while the block moves even more.

We climbed this route Friday morning Aug 17th. We couldn't get the nut out, so we just clipped it on our way by. Both of us were newbies to the tower (and didn't know about the wobbly block at the top). It gave us a pretty good spook. We didn't like the small size of the bolt, so we simul rapped off the block with the rope going thru the rap ring and a notch in the summit block. The wobble just added to the fun morning.